The Pershing Gets a Western Makeover: Jiminai's Portrait Series Debuts with ORO 

In the small West Texas town of Odessa, what artist Jiminai calls "Slow-dessa," a seventh-grade art teacher named Ms. Future Akins unknowingly set the course for an artistic career that would span from corporate design work to large-scale murals across Austin's walls.

"She was the kind of teacher that would sign you out of other classes so you could come do art," Jiminai recalls. "Kids were gluing mosaic tiles to lowrider cars, slapping paint all over their desks. She just let us get weird and wild." It was a stark contrast to his eighth-grade art experience, which was so uninspiring it drove him away from art entirely until college.

Like many small-town artists, Jiminai initially ran from his roots. "I did that thing where the preacher's son runs from the church," he says, referencing his rejection of country culture, in favor of playing guitar in a hardcore band. But after sixteen years in Austin, he's found himself circling back, not to "ranch dressing" fashion trends or performative cowboy culture, but to a genuine appreciation for his West Texas heritage.

With his current portrait series, he's exploring broader Western and Latino culture, using the term "vaqueros" rather than limiting himself to traditional cowboy imagery. It's an approach that allows him to dig deeper into different cultural areas while staying true to his regional roots.

This evolution reflects Jiminai's broader artistic philosophy: constant challenge and reinvention. "As soon as I start repeating myself, I force myself to create new ways to challenge myself," he says. 

What sets Jiminai apart is his methodical approach to art-making. He maintains a spreadsheet of all his Montana Gold spray paint cans, plans color choices based on inventory, and treats each piece like a complex problem to solve. "I've always broken art into technical and narrative," he explains. "A lot of artists lean towards interpretation and narrative, but I'm on the technical side. The narrative comes later.” 

This technical obsession extends to his material choices. For his current show, he's building and stretching his own canvases for the first time, using materials he's accumulated over time rather than buying new. "Instead of this collection waste culture we're often in, I'm trying to use up everything I have."

Jiminai understands the problem ORO is beginning to solve. His approach to pricing and professional standards reflects hard-won wisdom from years of undercharging. "I've had clients constantly be like, 'You undercharged,'" he admits. "Coming from small-town, humble origins, I didn’t necessarily always know what my value was."

But he's learned that experiences often matter as much as immediate payment. "You experience wealthy," as a partner once told him. Those underpaid gigs led to handshakes with influential people, hotel suites around the country, and ultimately, career-defining connections.

This philosophy of relationship-building over immediate profit led to his collaboration with ORO, Austin's innovative art platform. The partnership exemplifies Jiminai's belief in creating comprehensive experiences rather than just displaying art. "Venues are about cultivating an entire experience," he says. "And so, you know, whether that's building out a venue to have a certain aesthetic… it could be all the way down to the napkins, or the glasses that you're drinking your beverages out of, all the way up to billboards that are advertorial.”

This Exhibition with ORO held at the Pershing in East Austin features monochromatic cowboy portraits curated specifically for the space. "I want these pieces to almost look like permanent art for the venue," he explains.

ORO's rotational art model particularly appeals to Jiminai's understanding of how people's tastes evolve. "Temporary showing gives you a chance to go, 'Is this my aesthetic? Or am I going to evolve?'" he says. "You think you like abstract, but after two months of having this piece, you realize you really don't." The model addresses practical concerns too. "What if you live somewhere with seven-foot ceilings, but then you move to a space with ten-foot ceilings? That artwork doesn't work anymore."

Jiminai's success reflects his commitment to community over competition. "This whole game is not about superseding or taking from others. It's about building each other up," he says, describing how he and fellow artists in Austin support each other's shows and share opportunities. He credits much of his success to simply "hanging out and being friends with everybody," combined with delivering quality work. "If you show up to see their art, put bodies in there, talk to them, and be impressed… that relationship builds."

As Jiminai prepared for his ORO exhibition, he focused on pushing his technical boundaries while exploring cultural themes close to his roots. The cowboy portraits represent both a return to his West Texas origins and an evolution of his spray paint technique, combining photorealistic detail with bold color choices.

"I want to portray a different type of energy," he says of the series. "There's always been this mystique about Western cowboy culture. I wanted to tap into that."

In many ways, Jiminai embodies what ORO is all about: an artist committed to constant evolution, never settling into a comfortable routine, always pushing into new styles and mediums. Just as ORO rotates art to keep spaces fresh and allow people's tastes to evolve, Jiminai rotates his own creative challenges, ensuring that each piece brings something unexpected. His willingness to switch from murals to canvas, from bright colors to monochromatic palettes, from one cultural exploration to another, mirrors the platform's belief that art should be dynamic rather than static. In a world of artistic repetition, both Jiminai and ORO are betting on the power of change.

FEATURED ART

EXHIBITION VIDEO ASSETS

NOTE FROM THE CURATOR

Working with Jiminai on this exhibition has been a true privilege. His commitment to pushing his craft forward while honoring his roots brought a powerful energy to the walls of The Pershing. These works are not just portraits I can feel that the weight they carry with them has a sense of place, history, and a reminder of how identity can be reimagined through art.



I’m deeply thankful to Jiminai for sharing his vision with us, and to The Pershing for opening their space to make this collaboration possible. Together, we were able to create something that felt both timeless and new. This is an exhibition that will stay with us long after the walls rotate again.

— Joshua Winston, ORO